What's-in-my-Wardrobe Wednesday: Summer Dresses

Well, Wednesday's come around again and for my blog that means just one thing: it's time for another instalment of "What's in my Wardrobe Wednesday"! This week I'm going to be focusing on summer dresses in a vain hope that it might make summer make a most welcome return to my part of the world. Whilst the early summer (the end of May, most of June and the beginning of July) was warm and gloriously sunny, the past month or so has been a complete washout. It's rained practically every day and temperatures have been near or below the average for the time of year. But let's just ignore that for now, shall we, and focus on a summer where I'd be able to wear all of the following on a regular basis!!

Cream garden print cap sleeve dress

This is one of my favourite summer dresses, not least because it was a real bargain...I picked it up for just a fiver off one of the stalls at my village's summer festival. I adore its vintage look, and think the print is simply gorgeous...it pretty much sums summer up for me. Plus it's really flattering to wear, this is something that doesn't come across well on the hanger...I kind of wish I'd made the effort to take some pictures of me wearing it now! There's only one thing I'd change about it if I could, and that's the fact that the skirt has 3 layers: a silky underskirt, a net one over that and then the main skirt itself. Whilst they give it a lovely shape, they make it just a little too hot for high summer wear, as I discovered to my peril as I wore this to the theatre on one of the hottest days of the year so far!

Close up of the back...I love the heart button detail!!

Coral broderie anglaise sun dress

Coral is my summer colour, so much so that this is the first of 3 coral dresses to be featured in this post! It's bright and cheery and looks great with a tan...even if I don't have much of one most of the time! As well as the colour, I also love the fact that it's so easy to wear. I've had this dress for 3 or 4 years now, and it's not dated or gone out of style, and I can dress it both up (with wedges) or down (with flat sandals and my light denim jacket). Simply perfect!!

Full skirted floral print shirt dress

To be honest, this is technically much more than a summer dress...I often wear it in the cooler months with either black opaques for night, or black leggings for day, and its versatility is one of its major plus points for me. As with many of the other pieces I own, I can dress it up or down, and I've been able to wear this for so many different occasions ranging from a trip to the park to a meal with friends to a night out in town to name just three. I also adore the femininity of this dress...with its full skirt and bow which accentuates my waist, it makes me feel really womanly. Just as a side note, I think it looks pretty similar to this dress by Luella from a couple of seasons ago. What do you think? Not bad considering mine's just a cheapo version from Primark lol!!

Coral and grey flower and leaf print dress

Now, I love this dress. It's light and flowy, so it's perfect for summer wear and I love the fact that it's just a little bit different...probably because it was a limited edition piece. But what I love most about this dress was that it most certainly didn't have a limited edition price tag. This little beauty cost me the grand sum of £1.00!! That's right, it was just £1.00!! Like the first dress, this was a bargain from my home town's summer festival, but this is a more recent acquisition, having only been purchased a few weeks ago. But unlike the other dress, this still had its original tags on, which told me that it was from the Marks and Spencer Limited Collection and had started life at £45. Yet there it was, on the £1 bargain rail. I couldn't believe my luck...and am still convinced the stall holder had made a mistake. But I didn't question it...I just marched up to him, said "This is from the pound rail", and waited for him to bag the dress up lol!! Now being M and S, the only downside is that it ran a little big, but lucky for me my Mum is a whizz with a needle, and was able to put a couple of darts with no trouble :-)

Coral tulip skirt shift dress

Yet another coral dress; this was a favourite for summer evenings out last year and has even managed to get one or two outings this time around, despite the less than summery weather. I love the fact that this dress is very figure flattering; it nips me in at the waist, adds to the curve of my hips and hits just the right spot above my knees. And it has pockets...I love dresses with pockets. Sometimes I wear it as is, other times I wear it with a thick black waist belt to give me an even more defined waist (and to show more of my legs!!), but I wouldn't recommend doing that if you were eating out whilst wearing it...suffice it to say, I've tried it and it's not the most comfortable thing ever!! The coral colour also matches well with a range of accessories...I've worn it with cream, stone and grey shoes and gold, neutral and silver/pewter toned jewellery and it's looked great each time...another reason why I love versatile pieces!!

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse inside my wardrobe :-) Till next time...